Car Theft Climbs

Vehicle theft is surging in pockets of the U.S. as it declines in others, and U.S. thefts were up in general last year, a new report shows.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau’s “Hot Spots” report ranks Colorado as the state with the highest rate of vehicle thefts. It said thefts there jumped 11% year-over-year to more than 42,700 in 2022. In fact, three of Colorado’s metropolitan areas were among the 10 U.S. regions with the highest theft rates per 100,000 population.

Meanwhile, California led in total vehicle thefts at just over 203,000 last year. The other top five states – whose combined vehicle thefts made up 44% of all U.S. thefts – were Texas, Washington, Florida and Colorado, in that order.

The bureau, a nonprofit insurance industry group whose stated mission is to prevent and fight insurance crimes, said that about two vehicle were stolen per minute last year for a total of more than a million, up from just under 938,000 in 2021.

Still, some states’ vehicle theft rates declined, the bureau said: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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